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NEWS - ASIA, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA
INDIA’S Bharat Petroleum enters the travel business
Bharat Petroleum (BPCL), India’s second
largest oil marketing company, is planning
to enter the travel business with its personal
travel offering, Happy Roads, which would
help travellers plan and execute road trips,
two senior company officials said. BPCL is
looking to launch the app within the next
two months, the executives said, requesting
anonymity. Through the app, the state-run
company hopes to draw more millennials,
seen as being attuned to travelling by
road, into its customer base. “We are doing
something very different which no one has
done. We have tied up with some of the best
content creators on travel for Happy Roads.
Our app will also give real time updates on
travel destinations to our customers,” said
the first senior official from BPCL quoted
above. A user planning a trip on Happy
Roads will be able to select travel options
from wildlife, adventure, nature, offbeat, romantic,
leisure, religious and heritage. The
app will also help users explore nearby destinations
and plan a trip. In this segment,
Happy Roads would compete with existing
players such as TripAdvisor and Lonely
Planet India. BPCL has tied up with Bharti
Axa general insurance and PolicyBazar for
providing travel insurance and car rental
company Zoom Car, for cars and drivers.
Also on board is 3M, a car wash and wax
solutions provider. “If someone is using our
application, they would be updated on the
services provided and would be using our
facilities on the network they seek to travel.
This will help us connect to customers, give
a boost to our loyalty programs and help us
acquire new customers,” added BPCL.
PTT Philippines open Café
Amazon Franchise
PTT Philippines, a subsidiary of Thailand’s
largest gas and energy company PTT Public
Company Limited, has opened the local
franchising for its coffee shop chain Café
Amazon after getting the nod from its parent
company. PTT Philippines President and
CEO Sukanya Seriyothin said with the master
franchise authority from PTT Thailand, they
could now start offering the franchise to local
investors. However Café Amazon will not be
exclusive to PTT gasoline stations. Seriyothin
explained that a franchisee may open
a branch at any strategic locations such as
malls, office buildings, schools, condominiums,
and rest areas, among others. A standalone
store requires a 100-160-square-meter
area, while an in-building must have a
minimum of 40 square-meter space with a
total investment that goes around four to
eight million pesos per branch. Launched in
2002 in Thailand by PTT Group, Café Amazon
was initially aimed at providing complete
experience to customers of PTT stations. It
eventually branched out to other areas and
countries like Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar,
Japan, and recently, the PhilippinesCafé
Amazon now has more than 1,700 stores in
six countries. “We are bringing Café Amazon
to the Philippines to share with Filipino
consumers the best fresh coffee quality,”
said PTT Philippines Marketing Director
Thitiroj Rergsumran. “It’s not your typical
coffee shop. It provides a different kind of
taste and experience.”
MALAYSIAN FUEL retailers against fuel ceiling price
Petrol station retailers across Malaysia do
not welcome the government’s proposal
to impose ceiling price on all fuel grades
at petrol stations nationwide, according to
Sarawak Petroleum Products Agents Association
president Edwin Banta. Retailers are
concerned that the ceiling price proposal
would create a non uniform price for all fuels
sold at petrol stations because this will lead
to a price war among petrol brands and also
between individual petrol stations, which
means petrol stations will have to sacrifice
their short term margins. “This may initially
be good for the consumers but as more and
more petrol stations eventually shut down,
the consumer will have to travel further and
further to buy their products from a limited
number of sites. Retailers will have to retrench
their staff and will choose to provide
the bare minimal services to their customers
in the event of a price war. This is because
services will not be the purchasing point
for consumers anymore, and profit margins
for retailers will not permit them to employ
sufficient staff to help the consumers,” Edwin
said. “Rural communities will suffer the
most as there will be minimal or zero competition
in their areas as opposed to urban
sites. A single petrol station servicing an
entire town will most likely place their price
at ceiling level and that will cause hardship
to the rural communities. Also, areas with a
limited number of petrol stations will experience
the same predicament. Furthermore,
rampant illegal activities will surface, where
illegal activities to buy at minimal price but
in very high volume will lead to petroleum
unavailability for the other consumers,” he
added. Finance Minister Datuk Seri Johari
Abdul Ghani pointed out that the setting of
a ceiling, said to be apparently fair to all,
was one of the options the government was
considering to tackle the issue of escalating
oil price. He, however, said the government
was mindful whether the policy would be a
problem for those living on the outskirts.
12 erpecnews is published by McLean Events, Conferences and Media Ltd.